UPDATED: Disappointment for Delaware Republicans
It’s been a disappointing night for Delaware Republicans. While Sussex County voted for the Trump/Vance ticket – Delaware voted for the Harris/Walz who received 56% of the vote thanks to big turnout in New Castle County. At midnight, there are still 4 districts that have not reported, but voter turnout was better than in past years – though not quite as high as the 2020 Presidential Election. 2024 voter turnout was at 65% – but voter turnout in 2020 was 69%.聽 Click here for the DE Department of Elections Results
Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester will move up to Tom Carper’s seat and become Delaware’s junior Senator. She received 56% of the vote to 40% for Republican Eric Hansen and 4% for iPod candidate Dr. Mike Katz.
Democrat Sarah McBride moves from the State Senate to the US Congress winning 58% of the vote to John Whalen’s 42%. It was big numbers from New Castle County that put McBride over the top, but Whalen did win in Sussex County.
In the Governor’s race, Mike Ramone won both Kent and Sussex County, but New Castle County turned out in a big way for Democrat Matt Meyer who ended with 56% of the vote. Also Ramone’s 21st District House seat was won by Democrat Frank Burns who won 58% of the vote over Republican Brenda Mennella.
And the Lt. Governor’s race goes to Democrat Kyle Evans Gay who also won big in New Castle County. Republican Ruth Briggs King won in both Kent and Sussex Counties.
Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro will hold on after winning 58% of the vote over Republican challenger Ralph Taylor.
In the State Senate race for the 6th District, incumbent Russ Huxtable held on over Republican challenger Kim Hoey Stevenson. The only other contested race was for District 2 in New Castle County which was won by incumbent Darius Brown with 93% of the vote over Jon Roe of the Conservative Party.
There will be two special elections in coming months to fill the District 1 and District 5 seats in the State Senate. They were held by Sarah McBride who is headed to the US Congress and Kyle Evans Gay who won the Lt. Governor’s seat.
In the State House, in District 4, incumbent Jeff Hilovsky held on over Democrat challenger Gregg Lindner. The open 14th District seat was won by Democrat Claire Snyder-Hall – and still the only Democratic House seat in Sussex County. Snyder-Hall won 55% of the vote over Republican Mike Simpler.
In the 34th District, Kent County incumbent Lyndon Yearick won 56% of the vote over Democrat Tracey Miller and in the 36th District incumbent Bryan Shupe, after winning a very close primary race in September, easily won 63% of the vote over challenger Rony Baltazar-Lopez.
And in the 41st District incumbent Rich Collins won 64% of the vote from Democrat Tom Brett.
There will be big changes in the Sussex County Council in January with three new council members – two Republicans who won in the State Primary in September – Matt Lloyd in District 1 and Steve McCarron in District 2. Last night Democrat Jane Gruenebaum upset District 3 Councilman Mark Schaeffer as she won 55% of the vote.
With 4 Districts not yet reporting, two races remain close. For District 20 in the State House, Democrat incumbent Stell Parker Selby has 50.7% of the vote – a lead of 244 votes – over Republican challenger Nikki Miller, who has 49.3%. And in the Kent County Register of Wills race, Republican and former State Senator Colin Bonini leads Democrat DJ Cox by 429 votes. Bonini has 50.26% of the vote to Cox’s 49.74%.
Governor John Carney has served two terms in Dover – he now moves on to become the next Mayor of Wilmington.聽聽
The Department of Elections posted that they have received and processed all election media from Election Day polling locations and all early voting votes have been tabulated and reported. Absentee ballots that were received before the close of polls are being processed and once all the absentee votes have been processed, the unofficial General Election results will be complete.
The Board of Canvass will meet in Superior Court on Thursday, November 7th in each county to certify the results of the November 5th General Election. Those final numbers in Sussex County will be read during the Return Day celebration.
